Lawmakers Inundated With Constituent Complaints on Rescue Plan

By Christopher Stern and Lorraine Woellert

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- When U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed spending $700 billion to rescue Wall Street investment companies, the phones started ringing in Representative Bart Stupak's office. They haven't stopped.

The Michigan Democrat said he has received at least 300 calls and 100 e-mails, all of them asking why the government will help businessmen who have run their companies into the ground. ``Accountability is a big deal,'' Stupak said. ``That's where they're at.''

The story is much the same across Capitol Hill, helping explain the widespread dissatisfaction among lawmakers with the Bush administration's plan to spend taxpayer dollars to acquire bad debt from financial companies. President George W. Bush, who says the plan is needed to stem economic turmoil, addressed the nation in a speech last night to try to turn the tide.

``People see $700 billion, and of course they're just stunned,'' said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican. The response has been ``negative, no question.''

Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee received 400 e-mails critical of the plan and just four supporting it, a spokesman said. Democratic Representative Baron Hill of Indiana said that he has received more than 200 telephone calls ``telling me: don't do it.''

Hutchison's fellow Texan, John Cornyn, said voters won't back the proposal if it is seen as propping up insurance and investment firms.

`A Loser'

``As long as this is portrayed as a bailout for Wall Street, it's a loser,'' said Cornyn, a member of the Republican Senate leadership. Proponents must ``explain why it's important for working families,'' he said.

Selling the rescue plan to farmers and factory workers would have been difficult for almost anyone, and Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke have shown they aren't up to that job, lawmakers said.

``They're smart people, but like a lot of smart people, they don't even communicate effectively,'' said Representative Zach Wamp, a Tennessee Republican.

``They're talking about inter-company loans,'' scoffed Representative Steven LaTourette, an Ohio Republican. ``The boys at the diner aren't interested in inter-company loans. They want to know how they're going to pay their mortgage.''

Paulson's bill isn't ``functional,'' Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski told reporters after meeting with the Treasury secretary. Mikulski, whose state of Maryland includes suburbs of Washington, said her office got 3,000 e-mails and 2,000 calls, fewer than 200 of them supportive.

Consequences

Some lawmakers who support the plan say their constituents are considering the consequences of a failure to take action.

``People are being very commonsensical about this,'' said Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman. But voters insist Congress crack down on excessive executive compensation and enact oversight for the bailout, he said.

``Very few Americans want to see a transfer of $700 billion of wealth from Main Street to Wall Street,'' said Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who opposes the Bush administration plan.

Pence's office has received about 355 calls against the plan and 10 for it, according to spokesman Matt Lloyd.

Representative Hill said that if he proposed to constituents a $700 billion plan to make auto loans and other lending more available, ``they'd laugh me out of that town-hall meeting.''

Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, one of the rescue plan's loudest critics, has been receiving ``hundreds'' of calls, e-mails, and letters from constituents, running 98 percent against, spokesman Mike Reynard said. ``It's just constant phones ringing off the hook,'' Reynard said.

Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, said the reaction of his supporters has been almost volcanic.

``The base has erupted on this thing,'' said Davis, a Virginia Republican.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at Cstern3@bloomberg.net Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: September 25, 2008 00:01 EDT

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